


A Race to Remember

by FabulousFanficFairy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Racing, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-10-23 15:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10722297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FabulousFanficFairy/pseuds/FabulousFanficFairy
Summary: College students Keith and Lance are fighting for a spot on a prestigious kart racing team, while their friends, Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge, are all surprisingly chill about the upcoming racing season.





	1. Just Some College Kids

Lance's kart swerved around the track, nearly hitting the edge. In for his final lap, and his driving had grown reckless. Where his kart had drifted slightly at first, now it felt as if the entire back of the thing was swinging away, trying to pull Lance off the track. Lace gripped the wheel tightly, his hands nearly turning white.

"Come on, tailor," he murmured, eyes fixed on the narrowing track ahead, right before a tight curve. "Thread the needle."

The kart swerved through the curve, narrowly missing the barrier that marked the track, and sped across the finish.

"Again, the tailor prevails!" He screamed, jumping up and pulling off his helmet.

Keith scoffed. "I'd say ‘barely survived’ is the correct word. You nearly hit the side three times in one lap."

Lance folded his arms indignantly over his chest. "Um, ‘barely survived’ is two words. And I'd like to see you do better."

"Fine. Let's see, your average lap time was what? 50 seconds?"

"Thirty-two."

Keith smiled, mockingly. "I'll beat that by ten seconds. And, while I'm at it, I'll get the open spot on the Galra team."

Keith strode toward his kart, one rented from the track owner, and shoved his helmet visor down. Without glancing back at Lance, he sped into the track.

Lance stood, arms crossed, watching him fly around the curves. Lance wouldn't say he was graceful in his tight turns and smooth drifting, but there really wasn't any other word for it.

"Wow." Hunk stepped up behind Lance, wiping mechanical grease onto his already dirty jeans. "He sure is good. Almost graceful."

Lance just glared ahead, willing something to mess Keith up.

And then, on his final lap, at the final curve, Keith's drifting turned into a spin. Although he quickly got it under control, it was enough to get Lance's attention.

Keith stepped out of his kart, and pulled his helmet off. "24 seconds lap time. Told you I'd beat your time.”

“You said you’d do it by ten, and you only beat it by eight. And you also said you’d make the Galra team. Have you done that yet?”

Before Keith could respond, Hunk interrupted. “Lance, sorry to interrupt your great and wonderful squabble, but do you think you can give me a ride home later? I have a few karts to look over, and by then the last train back will have left.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks. Well, I’d better get back to work, before Coran comes to find me.”

Lance and Keith both said goodbye to Hunk. Then Keith turned to Lance. “Listen, I don’t want there to be a competition between us, but if there were….”

“There already is.” Lance interrupted.

“But if there were,” Keith repeated, ignoring Lance, “I would totally kick your butt.”

Lance just smiled. “Oh yeah. Well, Mullet, I’d whoop your sorry ass.”

It was Keith’s turn to smile. “Mullet? Oh, it’s on. And while I’m beating you at kart racing, I bet I could beat you at air hockey too.”

Lance could only laugh at this. “The last time we played air hockey, you hit the puck so hard it flew off the table. It hit Pidge in the face!”

Keith chuckled, remembering. “Yeah. I was sure they were going to kill me. But then they turned on you, because you got me to play in the first place. Oh, that was funny.”

They shook their heads, laughing, as they walked over to where Shiro and Pidge were sitting on nearby benches.

“Great driving you guys.” Shiro smiled. He’d been helping coach Keith and Lance, as both boys fought earnestly for a chance on the Galra team. “Though, Lance, take it easy with the drifting. You were going plenty fast, but you need to keep your control.”

Keith scoffed at this, shooting an ‘I-told-you-so’ smile at Lance. Lance glared back.

“And Keith,” Shiro spoke a little extra loud to get his attention, “be careful on those curves. Even a great driver can have a spin out.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah.”

“Allright. I have some things I need to go do. Everybody make it home safe, ok?”

“Don’t worry, Shiro. We’ll all be fine.” Pidge spoke, closing their laptop, and stuffing it into their backpack.

Shiro nodded, and walked off.

“Well, I’ve got to go. Homework, and such.” Pidge stood, stretching.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing this whole time?” Lance plopped himself down into the spot where Shiro had been. “Why don’t you chill for a while?”

Pidge smirked. “Because, like a responsible college adult, I have studying to do.” They walked off, heading the opposite direction as Shiro had gone.

“Well, Keith, looks like it’s just you and me now. Wanna wait for Hunk with me?”

“Nope.”

“What? Mullet, come on. I’ll be here for another ten minutes, help me pass the time!”

Grabbing up his helmet, and stuffing it into his bag, Keith didn’t look up to respond. “You’ll survive. And don’t call me ‘mullet’.”

“I know I’ll survive, but only after I die of boredom!”

Keith chuckled. “Bye, Lance. If I see Hunk as I leave, I’ll tell him to take his time.”

As Lance groaned, Keith spun on his heel to head out the door.

 ****  


The cool night air pushed against Shiro’s skin. He scratched the back of his neck, looking around. Where is she?

Just then, he heard a voice call him from behind. “Shiro! There you are?”

Turning, he saw Allura walking towards him, her long white hair swishing around as she walked.

“Oh, Allura!. Sorry, the boys were racing for longer than I thought they’d be.”

She shrugged, smiling. “It’s okay. I had some things that I needed to discus with Coran anyway. So, how are they doing? Do you really think they’re ready?”

Shiro almost laughed at that. “After today’s performance, I’d say no. However, they’ve done really well, and today was just some dumb friendly competition anyway. If they were taking it seriously, well I’d say they’re ready.”

Allura smiled, though she looked considerably more nervous. “Are you sure? We really can wait until next season if they need.”

Shaking his head, Shiro smiled reassuringly. “By next year, they’ll probably get recruited by someone else. Both Keith and Lance are trying for a spot on the Galra team, and wouldn’t hesitate if they got offered it. If we want to do this, we need to do it now.”

“You really think that the Galra team might take them? They’re that good?”

Shiro nodded. “Keith is one of the fastest people in this county, at least in their age group, and Lance is not too far behind. They both have some technique work to do, but there’s plenty of time for that.”

“Well.” Allura smiled broadly. “I guess I’d better show up at the race on friday to give them an official invitation to join the team.”

They shook hands, and left. Shiro felt much more at ease than he had before the meeting.

 ****  


Lance groaned, for the third time in the past five minutes. He stretched, willing Hunk to hurry up. It felt like an eternity had passed since Keith had left, and nobody was answering any of the group messages. Sighing, Lance decided to type a quick message to Pidge. He knew that if they were bothered enough, Pidge was sure to answer.

_PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE_

_ANSwer!_

_I’m DYING!_

After waiting a solid thirty seconds, Lance slid his phone back into his pocket. A moment later, it finally vibrated.

_What?_

_I’m bored._

_REally Lance? Really?_

_Entertain me._

_I’m busy_

_Aren’t you on the train back to your dorm?_

_Yeah, but I'm still busy. Studying_

_You are basically the smartest person ever. You dont need to study_

_I like it. Now stop bothering me_

_U R the worst_

_Love you too Lance_

Once again, Lance was left to wait in absolute boredom. All alone. No one to answer him. Absolutely nothing to do, and no one to bother. Except….

_KEITH!_

A few minutes passed from sending the text before Lance finally got a reply.

**_What?_ **

_I’m bored_

**_What else is new?_ **

_That was cold._

**_As ice. ;)_ **

_Since when do you use emojis?_

**_Since just now. Did you need something?_ **

_Just someone to talk to. Youre on the train with Pidge?_

**_Yeah._ **

_Are they really studying? Or are they avoiding me?_

**_They are studying, and also avoiding you, I think._ **

**_Now that I think of it, I have some studying to do…._ **

_NO. You can’t use Pidge’s excuse._

**_Fine. Are you all ready for friday?_ **

_Ready to beat you for the spot on the Galra team, if that’s what you mean._

**_Actually, I meant the English exam. That’s on friday morning._ **

_Shit_.

_I forgot about that._

**_Yeah, I figured. You should study._ **

_Fine_.

Lance sighed, tucking his phone away into his pocket, without intentions to study. Well, at least not tonight. He’d study before friday, at least.

Several minutes later, Hunk finally came over to Lance, wiping grease onto his jeans.

“Ready to go?’

Lance nodded. “Yup. My car’s parked out front.”

They began towards the front doors, but a voice stopped them. “Hunk!”

The boys turned to see Coran, the head mechanic at The Castle Track, heading towards them. “Hunk, I was looking at your schedule, and it said you’re supposed to work on friday, but I’m moving your shift to monday, so you can drive in the races.”

“Oh, thanks Coran! I hadn’t thought about that when I got my schedule.”

Coran nodded, and turned away, speaking as he left. “See you tomorrow!”

Hunk waved at Coran’s retreating back, then Lance and Hunk turned back to the doors, to Lance’s car.

Lance flopped, exhausted, onto his bed in his dorm nearly an hour later. After dropping Hunk off at the dorm, he’d remembered about the English test on friday, and ran to the library. It had taken him an eternity to find the books he’d been searching for.

Ah, well. At least now I won’t have to wake up early to get those books.

“Lance, there you are!” Hunk plopped down onto his bed across the room, and shoved some notebooks to the side. “Where’d you go this late at night?”

“The library.”

Hunk raised his eyebrows at this. “The library?”

“What?” Lance’s fists went to his hips, defensively. “Is it so hard to believe that a college student would go to a library?”

“No. But you going at eleven at night? That’s harder to believe.”

Lance shrugged. “I needed a few books so I can do some studying before class tomorrow.”

Leaning forward, Hunk snatched one of the books off of Lance’s bed. “A collection of William Shakespeare’s sonnets? You haven’t written your sonnet analysis paper yet, have you?”

“You’re only half finished with yours.”

Hunk smiled, tossing the book at Lance. “Fair, fair. Well, I’m turning in for the night. I have a study session in the morning with Shay.”

Lance smirked at Hunk. “Ooooh. The mysterious Shay, that I’ve heard so much about, yet I haven’t had the pleasure to meet. Is this the same ‘beautiful girl’ you met at that one party.”

Hunk blushed as he stood to walk towards the bathroom. “Maybe.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Um, a little bit. I mean, she’s super smart.” Hunk seared toothpaste across his toothbrush, and leaned against the doorjamb.

“Is she cute?”

This made Hunk blush even more, and Lance immediately knew the answer. “I knew it! You do like her!”

Hunk shrugged again. “So? Dude, we’re in college, can we be mature about this. Yeah, I like her, but it’s not a big deal.”

“Sure. Hey, you could invite her to the race thing on friday. You could hang out before you race, and there’s usually a party afterwards for each of the teams.”

Hunk smiled at that. “Yeah, I should do that. Though, I think that her brother is already a racer for the Galra team, so she might already be going.

“Well, you should ask her, then.”

This time Hunk just shrugged, his mouth too full of toothpaste foam for him to respond.

“Night Hunk,” Lance yawned as he rolled over on his bed.

“Nigh Lance,” Hunk managed to say without spitting any foam.


	2. Final Preparations (For Finals and for Races)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Studying for college exams isn't exactly Lance's idea of a good time, but, hey, if you want to pass, what else can you do? Besides, it always helps to have a "study-buddy", even if you didn't plan on studying together, and it just kind of happens. Also, some stuff for racing.

Taking a long drink from a redbull, Lance slammed his book shut. His head was swimming with thees, thous, and all of his thoughts were in iambic pentameter. Well, not really, but for as long as he’d been reading Shakespeare’s sonnets, they might as well be. He was so out of it, that he didn’t notice that someone had slid into the library seat in front of him until they spoke.

“Doing okay there?” Lance jerked his head up to see Keith, gloved hands clasped on the table, and eyebrows arched in an amused expression.

“Um, yeah.” Yawning, Lance rubbed the heel of his hand against his eye, gesturing with the other hand to the papers and books in front of him. “Just tired of all this.”

Keith smiled, and picked up one of the lined sheets of paper scattered around the book. “Is this your analysis essay?”

Lance nodded. “Part of it.”

“Why don’t you just type it out, rather than do all of this hand writing. Doesn’t it waste time?”

“Nah, it’s easier to edit this way. I catch mistakes as I type it in, rather than hope I’ll catch them as I skim over it.”

Nodding, Keith’s eyes scanned over the sheet. After several minutes, he spoke. “This is really good. Wow. Comparing Sonnet 10 to Much Ado About Nothing works really well, and then contrasting that against Sonnet 29. I like that.”

“Well, it’s almost as if Shakespeare is writing Sonnet 10 to Benedick, at least how he is in act one.”

“Well,” Keith stood, stretching, “I should go. Good luck with your paper.”

Lance watched Keith’s retreating figure, and smiled. No matter how much trash talk they threw at each other on the track, the two were good friends. He sure felt lucky to have Keith. His eyes couldn't help but follow Keith as he walked away, watching the slight swing of his hips as he walked. And that ass...

Shaking his head, Lance turned back to the papers sprawled in front of him. Now that he’d finally finished the actual essay, he just had to type it up. Which shouldn’t take too long. He hoped.

 

By the time Lance finally finished his final essay for english, and studied for the english  final as much as he really wanted to, it was time to head to the track for a final kart practice before friday. Before race day.

Shiro and Hunk were already there when he arrived, but he didn’t see anyone else.

“Hey, Keith and Pidge here yet?”

Shiro shook his head, looking up from whatever he was doing on his phone. “Nope. They should be here in a few minutes, though.”

“Oh, Hunk, did you talk to Shay?”

This made Hunk blush, just a little. “Yeah. She said she’s coming tomorrow anyway, so I’ll see her there.”

“Do I get to meet her? The beautiful, magnificent Shay?” Mockingly, Lance wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

Hunks cheeks were burning now. “Stop it Lance.”

Lance shrugged, about to continue, when Keith and Pidge appeared.

“Hey guys,” Keith said, hooking thumbs in his jeans pockets. Lance couldn’t help but notice how cool that looked, especially with the fingerless gloves Keith always wore.

“Alright, guys.” Everyone turned to Shiro, the leader of the group. “Since tomorrow is team assignment day, we should work on some of the technique issues you guys have. Lance, I need you to work on your drifting, and don’t let the back of the kart control where you go. Keith, don’t get over confident, be careful on those curves. Hunk and Pidge, I want you two to race together, get better at driving with several people on the track. Everyone good?”

They all nodded.

“Good. Let’s get out there, and do our best!”

Everyone hurried to slide their headsocks over their faces, and to pull their helmets on. The Castle Track was unusually full, considering that it was a thursday. To be fair, it was the day before a major racing event. Anyone not on a team would want to do their best tomorrow, and that meant practicing today.

Lance and Keith hurried over to the practice track they were scheduled to use. Keith was up first. While he climbed into his kart and started the engine, Shiro came over. Leaning against the railing, he had all of his focus on Keith’s driving. After a few laps, though, he relaxed, and turned to Lance.

“So, what makes you so set on the Galra team?”

Lance turned, surprised. “Well, they are the best team in our division. They have an amazing coach, and some pretty cool sponsors for the team.”

Shiro nodded. “Have you thought about what you’d do if you don’t make the team.”

The smile on Lance’s face faltered. “Oh. I hadn’t considered that. I mean, there’ll be plenty of other recruiting teams there tomorrow, so maybe one of them will want to sign me on?”

“I’m sure you’ll find a team for the season.” As Shiro walked away, Lance couldn’t help but think that he knew something that Lance didn’t. But then, that was Shiro for you. Being the only college graduate in their small friend group, he knew quite a lot more about being an adult than anyone else.

Lance yawned, watching Keith’s kart swerve around the last turn, and race past the finish. As Keith stood up to get out of his kart, Lance passed him on the way to his own kart.

“Great job, Keith!”

Keith smiled, and turned to face Lance. “Thanks!”

“I’m still gonna wipe the floor with your face tomorrow, though!”

As Lance hurried to his kart, he heard Keith mutter, “In your dreams, sharpshooter.”

As much as Lance wanted to reply to that snarky comment, he had a race to prepare for. Swinging quickly into his kart, Lance revved the engine, and sped down the track.

 

Three hours later, Lance raced down the final stretch of the track for the last time. He was practicing doing a pair race, so Keith was on the track, several meters ahead. Keith had always been the better driver of the two, but not by much. But the fact that he was so far ahead made Lance grit his teeth in frustration. He pressed his foot harder against the pedal, and his kart sped up, but only marginally so. He could see the distance between them slowly get smaller, but he could also see the oncoming curve, for which he’d have to slow down, and the fast approaching finish line after that. It was gonna be close. But not close enough. Lance pushed the pedal more. The curve got closer, but Lance didn’t slow down. He threw all of his weight into making the turn, and narrowly avoided hitting the side. It was the fastest he’d ever taken a turn, and he was surprised that he’d survived.

Seconds later, Lance sped across the finish, still behind Keith. Keith had beat him by almost a whole two seconds.

Much to Lance’s surprise, Keith didn’t mention it. Had he won, Lance would have made sure that Keith knew. But Keith was well aware that Lance knew he lost, and found no need to rub it in. He simply said a quick “good race”, and headed over to the rest of the group.

“Great race, you two! You both seem to have better control than last night, so keep it up.” Shiro smiled at both Keith and Lance, and then turned to speak to Lance specifically.

“Lance, great job on that last curve. I’d thought you were going to crash, when you didn’t slow down, but you had great control.”

“Thanks Shiro!” Lance beamed at the compliment, then turned to the rest of the group when Shiro started speaking.

“Well, everybody, that was a great practice tonight. I have to help with some stuff before the race tomorrow, everyone get home safe!”

They all promised they’d get home safe, and the group dispersed. Hunk and Lance turned to head to the parking lot, when Lance heard Keith’s voice.

“Hey Lance! I just wanted to say, no matter who makes the Galra team tomorrow, let’s not let this come between our friendship, alright?”

Lance took a step back, surprised. “Of course not! We may end up being rivals on the track, but that doesn't change what happens off track.”

Keith smiled at that. “We’re already rivals on the track, but yeah. I see what you mean. Anyway, get home safe.”

Lance smiled as he watched Keith walk away, then turned to Hunk. “Let’s hit the road.” 

Shiro was the last one to leave the Castle track, but he didn’t head to his car immediately. Rather, he stood near the entrance, waiting. It was only a few moments later when Allura appeared from around the back of the Castle building.

“Hey Shiro!”

“Allura! There you are.”

“Is everyone ready for tomorrow?” Allura spoke apprehensively.

Shiro nodded. “I’m confident that everyone will do well. You look worried? Is everything alright.”

“Yeah. It’s just that, I pulled a few strings and managed to convince the owner of the Castle Track Co. to sponsor this team, and he’ll be there tomorrow. If he doesn’t approve of the racers, the deal is off.”

Shiro’s eyebrows shot up at the news. “You already got a sponsor? That’s amazing!”

“It all depends on the team’s performance tomorrow.”

“I have a lot of confidence in this team. I’m sure they’ll be good enough to impress the owner.”

Although Allura’s shoulders relaxed slightly, she was still visibly tense. “I hope so.”

The two spend several more minutes discussing specifics about the team, and other details about how the next day would go.

Shiro left the track feeling, although excited, tired at all the work that lay ahead. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park to pull a racing team together. Especially when the team consisted on inexperienced college kids. He sighed, turning the key of his car. If he didn’t feel so connected to racing, he would have walked away years ago.

 

Lance could hardly sleep that night, both from the excitement for the race, and the fact that he had a final exam to do some last minute studying for. A five hour in one hand, and a textbook in the other, he sat on his bed with a small desk light providing crappy lighting. Hunk had fallen asleep soon after they got back, which was why the main room light wasn’t on. As much as Lance hated studying in bad lighting, he had little choice, lest he keep Hunk awake.

He was an hour into his studying that he remembered that the library was open all hours. As soon as he realized this, Lance shoved the books he needed into his backpack, and slipped out of the dorm silently.

The library was mostly empty, as was to be expected at ungodly hours of the night. There were a few students that Lance passed on the way to his usual study spot, but the majority of them were sleeping. Which really was what Lance should have been doing, but he still didn’t feel like it. Especially not after downing so much caffeine. Like, a crap ton of caffeine.

Lance’s regular study table was not nearly as empty as the rest of the library. There was a stack of book at the end of it, and papers spread across half of the length. There was not, however, a person there. Curious, Lance picked up one of the papers.

It was a several page article on “The Truth Behind Earth as We Know It.” The article was covered in color-coded annotations, all in a very familiar handwriting. Lance knew he recognized it, but from where?

“Hey.”

Lance jumped, dropping the paper back onto the table. But it was just Keith.

“Oh. Hey Keith. What are you doing here so late?”

Keith plopped down into one of the chairs by the table, and gestured at the table. “Research. Lots of research.”

“Oh. Mind if I join you? I have to study for that exam tomorrow.”

Shifting his jacket sleeve so he could see his watch, Keith smiled. “You mean the exam today.”

“What?”

“It’s 12:35. The exam is in ten hours. But yeah, I can share the table. Just don’t bother me too much.”

“Okay.” Lance slid into the chair diagonal to Keith, and slid the books out of his backpack. He managed to work through ten pages of his notes before turning to talk to Keith.

“What are you researching for?”

Keith smiled. “I knew you couldn’t stay silent for too long.”

“HEY!”

Shrugging, Keith addressed Lance’s earlier question. “It’s a, uh, independent research project that I’ve undertaken about disproving many lies that the common populace have been fed.”

“So, you’re a conspiracy theorist?”

“You know, the phrase ‘conspiracy theorist’ has such a negative connotation. It make me sound crazy. I prefer the term ‘seeker of truth.’”

“Okay, ‘seeker of truth’, what lies are you trying to disprove.”

“The moon landing.” Keith spoke so matter-of-factly, it took Lance a moment to register what he’d said.

Lance shook his head, surprised. “The moon landing?! You’re one of those crazies, who think that one of the most important events in human history didn’t happen?”

“I am not a crazy! I simply cannot believe that the feeble minds of humanity could put a person on the moon. It just doesn’t seem possible.”

Lance opened his mouth to respond, then closed it with a snap. Shaking his head, he spoke. “Forget I asked. I should finish studying.”

Keith laughed under his breath, and turned back to the large stack of papers in front of him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters down, and an unforeseeable amount to go! Sorry this one took so long to post, I don't have any relevant excuses. Anyway, I hope you guys like this one. We're almost getting to the stuff I'm excited for!


	3. Trial Races

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Races and crushes and teams? Oh my!

Keith and Lance stumbled out of the english exam room, following behind a much more awake Hunk. He, although somewhat tired from the long test, did not have the same blank-faced-brain-dead stare that Keith and Lance had. It probably helped that Hunk had gone to bed before the morning of the exam, but that was a fact that both Keith and Lance were choosing to ignore.

Or maybe they were too tired to remember anything about the night/morning before. 

Hunk turned to look at his friends and only then noticed how exhausted they looked. “You know, I was about to suggest we do something to celebrate the fact that we’re now all finished with our finals, but you two look like you should get some sleep.”

Rubbing his hand over his face, Keith mumbled, “Nah, we’re fine. We should celebrate. Let’s go get some pie, or something.”

Lance had enough energy left to laugh. “Pie? Really? That’s your idea of a celebration? You really do need some sleep.”

“So do you, Lance.” Hunk pointed out. “You didn’t get back to the dorms until four in the morning.”

“How’d you know that? I was so quiet coming in!”

“You almost knocked over the bookshelf.” Lance knew that there was no good way to argue that, so he was forced to laugh along with Hunk, and even Keith joined in. Although, Keith’s laugh sounded more like a sleepy ‘I’m not sure what’s going on but you’re laughing so I guess I will too’ kind of laugh. Hunk smiled at that.

“Come on, you sleepy children, if we hurry we can catch the next shuttle to the dorms.”

Keith nodded, and followed behind Lance and Hunk as the walked down the sidewalk toward the shuttle stop. Although Lance was still tired, he was starting to wake up more now that he wasn’t in the middle of an exam. He was still looking forward to a nap, though.

By the time the shuttle pulled up to where the three were standing, a small group of other college students had joined them. Everyone quickly filed onto the shuttle, and Hunk hurried to find seats for the three of them. They all settled in for a ride, because their dorms were on the other side of campus. 

The shuttle was about halfway to the dorms when Hunk turned to Lance, to say something, and found him asleep. His head was rested on top of Keith’s, and Keith’s head was on his shoulder. The two of them were leaning slightly against the window. It was one of the most precious things Hunk had seen all day.  

So, naturally, Hunk sent a photo of it to the friend group chat. 

Pidge responded almost immediately, with Shiro right behind.

_ I am keeping this forever.   _

**_That’s great. I have to save that._ **

Hunk smiled, wondering what the two would do when they found that on the group chat. He then wondered why he didn’t just send it directly to Pidge and Shiro instead.

‘Ah, well.’ He thought. ‘Nothing I can do about it now.’

 

When the trio got back to Hunk and Lance’s dorm, they invited Keith to stay with them there instead of taking the shuttle the rest of the way to the other dorms. Which is how he ended up on Hunk’s bed, asleep. As Lance woke up about two hours before it was time to go to the track for the race, his first thoughts were ‘he’s even pretty when he’s sleeping.’ And then he realized just how gay he sounded.

So, instead of admiring the sleeping man-child on the bed across from him, he wandered out of his dorm.

About a half hour later, he pulled into the parking lot of the Castle Track. It was still early afternoon, so there weren’t many cars there. The racing wouldn’t begin until that evening, and no one was aloud on the track until then. Looking through the front windows, Lance saw several people lounging on the couches facing the track. From what Lance could tell, it looked like many of them were team leaders, most of which had already announced that they’d be looking for a new racer for the season. 

And then there was Shiro. He was on the end couch, sitting next to some girl with  _ very  _ long white hair. And, as Lance couldn’t help but notice, a very nice figure.

He sauntered into the Track, fully intending to head over to speak with Shiro (and maybe flirt with whoever this girl was), when he noticed how serious the two looked. They were deep in conversation, and there were several papers scattered on a small table in front of them. The pages almost looked like team forms and racing schedules. Was Shiro putting together a team, with this girl? Was that why he’d been asking Lance about what Lance’d do if he didn’t make the Galra team?

Lance shook his head, turning to leave.Wouldn’t Shiro have told him that there was another team interested in him? That is was Shiro’s team? Shoving the door open, Lance decided he’d head back to his dorm and check on Keith. He wasn’t sure why he’d ended up at the track anyway. 

Keith was awake and sitting in the living room of the dorm when Lance got there, They both looked up from the card game they were playing when he walked in.

“Hey, man. Where were you? We saved you a cookie.” Hunk pushed a plate with several cookies still on it toward Lance. “Well, there still more than just one, but you’d have to fight Keith if you wanted all of them,”

Lance laughed, grabbing one of the cookies, and some still-warm chocolate melted over his palm.

“I was bored so I went down to the Track, but nobody is allowed to drive on any of the tracks until tonight, and there wasn’t anyone there that I wanted to talk to.”

Keith nodded. “We should probably head to the dining hall and get some food before the race. Lets clean this up, and then we can go.”

 

A couple of hours later, Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro were all chilling on one of the couches at the Castle Track. None of them had driven yet, and the weird white-haired girl Lance had seen earlier was nowhere to be found. Lance still hadn’t asked Shiro about what he’d been doing here earlier, and he didn’t plan to.

“Racers in group 15B, please make your way to  track B.” The voice over the intercom crackled, and Lance and Keith stood.

“Ready?” Keith spoke, pulling his head sock over his face.

“Ready.” Lance nodded at Keith, and they stepped up to where a small group of other racers were waiting.  

A worker at the Track spoke, giving a quick outline of the rules, and how this’d work. Each racer would do four solo laps around the track, and then they’d all do a group race together. 

As he listened, Lance couldn’t help but notice all of the team leaders who stood outside of the track, watching. Those team leaders included Zarcon, leader of the Galra team. Lance could feel his palms sweating, and took several large deep breaths.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith’s voice was muffled by his helmet, but Lance could still hear it.

“Yeah.” 

“You’re going to do fine. Besides, if we don’t make the Galra team, there are plenty of other teams looking for new recruits.”

Lance could only nod, as he watched the first racer swing into his kart, and start on his four laps.

Keith and Lance were the last two to go out of the group, and Lance was first. 

He swung into his kart, putting as much confidence into his movements as he could. The more confident you look, the more confident you’d begin to feel.

He gripped the wheel tight, and watched the flag master wave the green flag in a circle in the air, and then down in a  _ whoosh _ . With that, Lance was off.

He only focused on the track and his kart, shoving all thoughts of the watching team leaders to the farthest corners of his mind.

_ C’mon, Lance, you can do it. _ He mumbled to himself, swerving quickly around a corner. His kart drifted, but the back didn’t pull the front off of it’s course. Taking a deep breath, Lance prayed he could keep that level of control until the group race was over.

He passed the start line once, twice, three times. Each time, everyone outside of the track went by in a blur. It was almost as if they weren’t there; now it was just Lance and his kart. The track ahead was his only focus.

_ Alright, tailor, thread the needle.  _ He repeated this long-used mantra, as he swerved around the final, narrow corner, and sped over the finish.

He was barely out of his kart and back with group of waiting racers before he looked up at the scoreboard. Average lap time: 18.09 seconds. The fastest one of anyone in the group, who had gone. And only Keith was left, so he was basically the best.

Except for the fact that Keith got an average of 17.05. Faster than Lance.

Lance shrugged, and turned to congratulate Keith. He may have beaten Lance, but Lance was okay with that. Besides, an average of less than 19 seconds could put him in the top leaderboard for the whole event.

Next was the group trial. Everyone swung into their karts, and pulled up to the start line. Keith was to the left of Lance, and there were several racers to his right. Lance vowed to beat each and every one of them. He could only hope, however, to beat Keith.

The flag master thrust the green fabric down with a  _ whoosh,  _ and they were off. Within the first few seconds, Keith and Lance left most of the racers behind in the dust. They were all good, but Keith and Lance were better. Well, except for whoever was in the kart directly to Lance’s right. Because of the helmet, Lance only got a glance of their eyes, but that was enough to see a very determined spirit. A spirit that Lance desperately wanted to beat.

He gripped the wheel tight, and thrust it to the right to make an almost reckless turn. Pushing his gas pedal down farther, Lance was able to barely pull ahead of the other racer, just as the track narrowed into a tight curve.

Thrusting his wheel again, Lance bit his lip to help him focus. Keith was a few meters up the track, and Lance was surprised he’d let mullet-boy get so far ahead. He’d spent a second too long looking at that other racer.He pressed his foot down harder, and managed to almost catch up. He stayed just behind Keith for several laps, the two of them always the leaders of the entire pack. Lance, however, was not skillful enough to keep his speed when swerving around corners. It was only that one thing that kept him from beating Keith. And, well, Keith was a slightly better racer anyway.

The two sped across the finish, Keith just feet in front of Lance, several moments before anyone else caught up. Everyone pulled their karts to a stop, and went to go look at the scoreboard. Lance already knew that Keith ad been first, he had been second, and that mysterious racer had come third. But, Lance hadn’t seen the ‘mystery racer’ after they got out of their kart, so now Lance had to go look at the scoreboard to see who it was.

Keith and Lance were the last ones to pull off their helmets, and walk over to the board, so they had to wait until everyone else had already seen the scores.

The board read: 

1\. Keith Kogane….Avg. lap time: 15.99

2\. Lance McClain ….Avg. lap time: 16.05

3\. Shay Balmera…. Avg. lap time:16.89

(And other racers no one cared about)

_ ‘Shay?!?!’  _ Lance’s mouth fell open in shock, he was so surprised. Keith noticed, and chuckled.

“You so surprised that I beat you?”

“No, it’s just… Look at who’s in third.”

“Shay? That name’s familiar.” Keith’s eyebrows knit together, as if that would help him figure out who Shay was. And  Lance had to admit that it was pretty cute the way his eyes narrowed.

“Shay. As in ‘beautifull girl from Hunk’s biochemistry class’ Shay.”

It was Keith’s turn for his mouth to fall open. “ _ That  _ Shay?”

Lance nodded, and the two turned to look over to where Hunk had been hanging out earlier. Sure enough, he was talking to a tall, beautiful, muscular-looking woman. Shay.

Lance and Keith ran over to them, and earned some glares from people they almost ran over.

“Hunk!” Lance screeched, coming to a stop in front of the two.

“Lance, there you are. And Keith. How did your guys’ race go?”

Keith opened his mouth to reply, but Lance beat him to it. “Don’t you mean Lance, Keith, and Shay, how did your race go? Because Shay was in the race too. And she  _ kicked butt.” _

Shay’s face turned pink at the praise. “You guys still beat me.”

“But you beat everyone else.” 

Hunk nodded, agreeing with Keith’s statement. “Keith and Lance have been racing for, well, practically forever. There was no way anyone could beat them. But beating everyone else? That was impressive.”

“Thanks Hunk. Well, I have to go talk to a few people. See you later?”

Hunk smiled. “Yeah, see you later.”

The moment she was gone, Lance was practically jumping on Hunk. 

“Dude! You didn’t tell me she was a racer! I mean, you said she was smart, and pretty, and funny, and lots of other stuff, but why didn’t you say she was a racer?”

Hunk’s face warmed. “I didn’t say all of that stuff, did I?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh. Well, I guess it never came up? I dunno.”

Before Lance could retort, Shiro and Pidge came up behind Keith. Pidge had just finished the race they’d been in, and Hunk had been in one of the first groups,  so now all that was left was for everyone to wait until the team leaders stopped watching and started recruiting. 

“Hey guys, you all did great on your races! Why don’t we get some food while we wait for teams to start recruiting?”

“Yeah!” Everyone agreed, and they hurried over to the snack counter to get some plates of onion rings and nachos. 

It was only about five minutes later when the last race group finished, and the team leaders came into the area of the Track where everyone was waiting. All of the racers had been assigned numbers for the night, and wore stickers with them on their shirts. That made it easier for team leaders to find who they needed.

Keith and Lance were both waiting anxiously, watching Zarkon chat with several other leaders. And then stop talking. And start walking. He got closer and closer to the group. He glanced at the numbers on everyone’s shirts. Aaaaaaaand, he walked past. He walked straight over to some guy that Lance recognized from one of his classes. Some weirdo named Throk. Who named their kid that anyway?

Keith and Lance watched, horrified, as Zarkon pulled out some easily recognizable racing forms, all with the Galra symbol on them. Zarkon was signing Throk onto the team. There had only been one opening. Now there wasn’t one.

Lance turned to look at Keith, and found him looking very disappointed. And he had every right to. The two of them had been fighting for the spot, only to find it filled by someone else. 

Lance’s heart sunk more and more as he continued to watch Throk and Zarkon continue to chat. It was supposed to be Lance Zarkon was talking to, or at least Keith. It would have stung like a wasp if it had been Keith that ended up on the team, but watching someone else entirely make it? That stung like a whip.

After several minutes, Lance turned away, and back toward his group of friends. They were all chatting as if all was right with the world, not even worried if they’d even make a team or not. Well, at least Keith still seemed shocked. But after a few minutes, even he snapped out of it, and was chill again.

It took Lance a few extra minutes to work through his shock, but then he still had plenty of disappointment to work through. It was then he remembered Shiro’s words of just the night before.  _ “I’m sure you’ll find a team for the season.”   _ What was it that Shiro knew that Lance didn’t?

Lance’s question would be answered a lot sooner than he anticipated. At that moment, the woman that Lance had seen at the track earlier had appeared, this time with her long white hair tied up gracefully.

She smiled at Shiro, and then the rest of the group. “Hi everyone. I’m Allura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Precious Readers! Sorry for the very late update, I don't really have a set writing schedule, but I'll try to update more often. No promises, but I will try. Thanks for reading!


	4. A New Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a filler chapter between the races to get into a team and the beginning of the actual races.

The woman smiled warmly at Shiro before continuing. “Shiro and I have been working for the past several weeks to organize a new team, to give all of the old teams a little challenge. However, every team needs racers, right? And I don’t race.”

She took a deep breath, and continued. “I watched all of you drive tonight, and I was very impressed. Each of you have amazing skills, although you all differ in what those skills are. And that’s exactly what I need in my team members. That’s why I’d like to offer you all a place on the Voltron team.”

Allura smiled now, letting her arms drop down to her sides. It took a moment before anyone responded.

Hunk spoke first. “You want all four of us? This is going to be awesome!”

Allura smiled. “Actually, all five of you. Shiro has agreed to be a racer as well, so we don’t need to find another team member.”

Lance couldn’t help but notice the grin on Keith’s face. “This is a way sweeter deal than joining the Galra team.”

“And now, we get to kick their asses!” Keith laughed at Lance’s statement, and that just made the whole evening even better for Lance.

Everyone began filling out the paperwork that Allura handed them. There was a  _ lot  _ of information crammed on just a few sheets of paper. Lance sighed, and realized that they might be there for a while yet.

‘ _ Oh, well. I made a team, not even pages of paperwork can ruin my evening!” _

As it turned out, it didn’t even take that long to finish answering all of the questions. Pidge finished first, then Hunk, Keith, and Lance. Shiro had already filled out a plethora of paperwork when he’d been organizing the team, so he got to just sit and watch while they all finished. 

“Well then, that takes care of it!” Shoving the pages into a folder, Allura was beaming. “I’ll send each of you a practice schedule to your emails. We have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks, before racing begins. I hope you all are serious about this!”

Everyone nodded vigorously, though Lance still had his almost-childish grin spread across his face. He may have only made a novice team, but with the racers they had, it could have very well been in the pros.

Lance couldn’t help but notice that Keith was grinning as well. Not as huge of a grin as Lance had smeared across his face, but he still looked very happy.

“Dude! We made the team! Yes!” Lance had to refrain himself from grabbing Keith up into a huge hug, but settled instead for a high five.

“Not the Galra team, but a team nonetheless.” 

“All we really wanted was a great team, right? And what team better than the team with the fastest racer ever, the one and only, Keith Kogane!”

This made Keith’s cheeks go pink. “You’re not too bad of a racer yourself.”

Before Lance could respond, they noticed Hunk chatting with Shay.

“I made the Rebel team!” Shay’s smile was huge, and her eyes were gleaming.

“I told you you’d make a team. Didn’t I tell you that you’re awesome?”

It was Shay’s turn to blush. “Yeah, but I just took it as your general niceness.”

Lance and Keith turned toward Shiro, to stop eavesdropping on Shay and Hunk,but noticed that he was focused on a conversation of his own with...

“Is that Pidge’s brother?” questioned Keith. “Because that guy looks just like Pidge. It’s weird.”

Lance nodded, watching Shiro and Tall Pidge (as Lance decided to call him). They were both laughing over something, and Shiro looked super happy talking to Tall Pidge. He was super animated as they spoke, and it was super cute, like watching a puppy get excited over something. Tall Pidge smiled, and watched Shiro with the sweetest expression.  Lance immediately shipped the two, and he hadn’t even spoken to Tall Pidge yet. They just kind of had a really nice dynamic between them.

“Yo, earth to Lance!” Suddenly Keith was right up in Lance’s face. “Were you even listening?”

“Of course I was listening! We were just talking about…. Uh, Pidge’s brother, right?”

“So you weren’t listening! I was just saying we should go get something to eat, celebrate our first night as a team.” 

“Yeah! I’m starving.”

The whole group, including Shay and Tall Pidge, headed to a nearby diner, and squished together into a booth. After ordering, Shiro finally decided to introduce his friend, but only after Lance asked who this ‘Tall Pidge’ was. Actually, Shiro just laughed at the term ‘Tall Pidge.’ Tall Pidge introduced himself.

“I’m Matt. But I like the whole ‘Tall Pidge’ thing. Poor small Pidge over there, too short to be as cool as a Tall Pidge like myself.” 

Pidge smiled a devilish grin. “Ah, yes, poor small Pidge. At least I’m not too short to do this.”

And that’s how Matt got a bruise on his shin.

The rest of the meal was fairly uneventful, other than the french-fries that got thrown into faces, lots of teasing between Pidge and Matt, and the occasional kick to the shin. 

 

Official practicing didn’t start for another week, but Lance still ended up at the track early the next day, only a few minutes after it had opened. He was surprised to see someone already on the track. He watched as Keith swung gracefully into his kart, having arrived only moments earlier. He did a few warm up laps before he finally pulled to a stop, and noticed Lance. Quickly, Keith hopped out of his kart and approached Lance.

“Hey, Lance. Whatcha doing here so early?”

“I guess I could ask you the same question. I just wanted to get a bit of training in, I guess.”

            Keith nodded, and pulled off his helmet and head sock. This, of course, made his hair poof up in all directions. “I'm just surprised you're here this early, especially after the late night we all had last night.”

Stepping back defensively, Lance crossed his arms. “Well you're here early too.”

“I don't need my, quote unquote, beauty sleep,” smirked Keith.

“I don't know, mullet head. Your fluffy mane tells me otherwise.” This left Keith looking wounded as Lance hurried away towards the karts. Keith tried to pat down his hair, before shrugging and slipping the head sock back on.

Keith and Lance spent the next several few hours racing, in friendly competition. Keith won most of the laps, but Lance managed to pull ahead once or twice.

It wasn’t until around two in the afternoon that the two finally pulled their karts to a stop. They both swung out of them laughing, full of adrenaline from the speed.

“Keith, that was awesome! You take the curves so damn fast, I was sure you were gonna die!”

“You know Lance, there’s a magical thing called ‘control’. You should try it sometime.”

Rather than a witty remark, Lance threw all of his weight against Keith. They both fell to the floor laughing, almost banging the helmets together. They were still sitting there laughing, although with their helmets and head socks pulled off, by the time that Shiro walked into the track. He almost tripped over Keith and Lance, and dropped half of the papers he was carrying.

“Oh! Keith, Lance! What are you doing on the floor?” He looked flustered, and headn’t even bent down to pick up the papers that had fallen.

Lane smirked. “Clearly we’re helping you gather up all of the stuff you dropped. What is this for anyway?”

“Oh. I didn’t realize I’d dropped those.”

Handing the papers to Shiro, Keith scrunched his eyebrows together. “Dude, are you okay? You seem pretty out of it.”

“I, uh, didn’t get much sleep last night. Ii had to go over the schedules and some other forms. I have to go give them to Allura, so I’ll see you later!” He began walking towards the back offices of the track building, before Lance’s words stopped him.

“Wait, does Allura work here? I’ve never seen her before.”

Shiro shook his head. “She doesn’t but her dad’s the owner of the place, so she’s usually hanging around.”

He disappeared into the back area, and Keith and Lance left the track to go see if the exam scores for their finals were posted yet. School was over for the summer, but everyone on a racing team would have a lot of work ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, yet it took me so long to finish it! Sorry guys. Anyway, I hope to have a new chapter done faster than I did this one. Hope you enjoyed it though!

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you guys all like it. If you have any feedback, please let me know, I'd love to know what everyone thinks.


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